Kent Mackenzie, “The Exiles” (1961) (via exilesfilm.com)
LOS ANGELES — This week, the Hammer Museum hosts a two-day music and performance festival, Marcia Hafif’s long overdue exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum closes, the Women’s Center for Creative Work begins its residency at the Armory Center for the Arts, and more.
Philippe Quesne: La Mélancolie des Dragons
When: Wednesday, September 23—Friday, September 25, 8:30pm nightly
Where: REDCAT (631 West 2nd Street, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Philippe Quesne’s La Mélancolie des Dragons lies somewhere between the avant-garde theater of Robert Wilson and the parody of This Is Spinal Tap. On a snow-covered stage, bewigged rockers find themselves stranded after their Citroen breaks down. Luckily their trailer housing a small stage and light show still works, which they use to set up a makeshift heavy metal theme park. Through a series of absurd and humorous vignettes, the production charts a line between the physical comedy of Jacques Tati and the theatrical antics of hard rock groups like Iron Maiden and the Scorpions.
Philippe Quesne, “La Mélancolie des Dragons” (via facebook)
The Exiles
When: Thursday, September 24, 8pm
Where: Union Station, North Patio (800 N Alameda, Downtown, Los Angeles)
Once a run-down residential district depicted in the writings of Raymond Chandler, John Fante, and Charles Bukowski, LA’s Bunker Hill has undergone a whirlwind transformation of late, capped off by the recent opening of the Broad Museum. Kent Mackenzie’s 1961 film The Exiles is a moving document of the area’s earlier incarnation, before it was bull-dozed to make way for sleek high-rises. It follows a group of young Native American residents of Bunker Hill through a day of partying, fighting, and dreaming across LA’s gritty yet vibrant urban landscape. With a narrative based on interviews with participants — many of whom play themselves — it was hailed as one of the first films to present a realistic portrayal of Native American life.
Adam Linder, “Cult to the What” (2013), part of All The Instruments Agree (via hammer.ucla.edu)
All The Instruments Agree
When: Saturday, September 26—Sunday, September 27, 12–10pm each day
Where: Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Westwood, Los Angeles)
The Hammer Museum brings the music festival to the white cube this weekend with All The Instruments Agree. “Conceived as an exhibition in the form of a concert,” the two-day event will bounce between two outdoor stages for a nonstop program of pop, indie, experimental, hip-hop, and everything in-between. Highlights include Genesis Breyer P-Orridge of industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle, Cairo-based electronic artist Hassan Khan, legendary choreographer Simone Forti, drag-noise duo Xina Xurner, the latest project from Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and a band called Penis. Check here for the complete schedule.
Women’s Center for Creative Work: Parlor at the Armory (via armoryarts.org)
Parlor at the Armory
When: Opens Saturday, September 26, 6–8pm
Where: Armory Center for the Arts (145 N. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, California)
The Women’s Center for Creative Work (WCCW) will kick off its 10-week residency at the Armory this Saturday by installing a worktable and shelves, establishing the space as a site for artistic production. Each week, WCCW will invite another artist or collective to work in the space, followed by a public program. Over the course of the residency, the artists’ projects will include an installation based on the architecture of Turkish harems, a communal kitchen, a collaborative series of short plays, and more.
Marcia Hafif: From the Inventory (via lagunaartmuseum.org)
Marcia Hafif: From the Inventory
When: Closes Sunday, September 27
Where: Laguna Art Museum (307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, California)
Marcia Hafif’s current show at the Laguna Art Museum has been a long time coming. Although the 86-year old artist has shown extensively on the East Coast and in Europe, this is her first museum show in her home state in 40 years. From the Inventory features monochromatic paintings that bridge the worlds of abstraction and installation, turning walls or whole rooms into artworks themselves. The exhibition closes this Sunday with a performance by experimental cellist and fellow Laguna Beach native Charles Curtis, whose avant-garde compositions will provide an aural counterpoint to Hafif’s subtle and resonant works.
Yoshi Wada and Tashi Wada (via sassas.org)
sound. with Yoshi Wada and Tashi Wada
When: Sunday, September 27, 5pm
Where: Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook (6300 Hetzler Rd, Culver City, California)
This Sunday, The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS) presents a unique collaboration between Fluxus composer Yoshi Wada and his son Tashi Wada. Born in Japan, Yoshi Wada moved to New York in the late ’60s and fell in with the Fluxus group after meeting founder George Maciunas. He began making his own instruments in the ’70s, which he uses in sound installations often characterized by high-volume drone compositions. Tashi Wada has followed in his father’s footsteps as an experimental composer, and their performance at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook will feature analog and electronic instruments including sirens, alarms, bag pipes, and audio generators.
